Damper devices are well known in the internal combustion engine art. The damper device, when installed in an automotive fuel system, reduces noise produced by injector pressure pulsations. Fuel injectors are attached to a fuel rail, which receives a supply of fuel from a fuel tank. Unused fuel is returned to the fuel tank through the damper, located in a fuel return line.
Currently, dampers are supplied as a brazed sub-assembly, with the damper brazed to the return tube. This requires attachment of the damper/return tube assembly to the fuel rail, via an attachment means such as a clip, fastener or other post braze means. Unfortunately, the post braze means cannot be a separate brazing process, because the damper attached to the return tube will not survive the braze oven. Hence, even though a braze can provide an improved joint, a disadvantage with the state of the art is that the brazing process cannot be used to attach the return tube, containing the damper, to the fuel rail.
It is seen then that it would be desirable to have an improved an simplified assembly process for attaching the damper to the return line and the return line to the fuel rail assembly, which overcomes the disadvantages associated with the prior art.